TEERTHA GUPTA

4PB

Teertha Gupta specialises in complex cases involving children, including international relocation, cross border parental abduction, and surrogacy. He’s extended his caseload into adult representation for those accused of forced marriage or spousal abandonment. Gupta took silk six years ago, and since then has found demand for his services sky-rocket. With cuts to legal aid mounting, Gupta spends more and more of his time working with HNWs, with half his caseload coming from international clients. While Gupta loves the variety of his working life: ‘One day I can be representing a super-rich entrepreneur, and the next day I could be representing a child on legal aid.’ It is clearly his work in child law that is most rewarding. Gupta tells the story of one difficult case in the House of Lords that saw him act — and win — for two Zimbabwean girls, aged ten and 13, who were fighting deportation. Gupta, who ‘always wanted to make a difference to people’s lives,’ is also leading the charge in bringing greater diversity to the legal profession. Asked how his ethnicity has affected his work, he says: ‘I think [it] does help when you’re talking to your average Saudi client or clients abroad from different walks of life. I may not be the stereotypical English barrister, but times have changed. As the one of the very few family silks and Deputy High Court Judges who is not white, at the moment I feel like a bit of a pioneer.’